Cyprus economy records inflation in January!

The Consumer Price Index increased by 0,5% in January 2017, compared to January 2016, the Statistical Service announced on Thursday.

The increase comes after 42 continuous months of deflation, on an annual basis.

The Consumer Price Index for January 2017, decreased by 1,08 units to 98,53 units compared to 99,61 units in December 2016. Compared to January 2016, CPI is increased by 0,5%, said Cystat.

It added that in the twelve-month period from February 2016 to January 2017, in comparison to the period from February 2015 to January 2016, the annual average rate of change of the CPI was -1,3%. The corresponding annual average rate of change of the CPI in the previous twelve month period was -2,1%.

As regards the economic origin, when compared to both the index of January 2016 and December 2016 the largest change, was observed in Petroleum Products with an increase of 11,2% and 3,8% respectively.

Compared to January 2016, the category with the biggest positive change was the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other fuels (2,8%), whereas the greatest decrease was noticed in Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the house (-2,5%).

In comparison to the CPI of December 2016, the category with the largest decrease was the Clothing and Footwear (-14,5%) while the biggest positive change was observed in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (1,6%).

The categories with the largest positive effect on the change of the CPI of January 2017 when compared to January 2016 were the following: Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other fuels (0,33), Transport (0,25) and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (0,15). The category with the greatest negative effect was the Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the house (-0,19).

The category with the largest negative effect on the change of the CPI compared to the previous month, was the Clothing and Footwear (-1,30) while Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (0,25) had the most positive effect.

The following products/services had the most notable positive effect on the change of the CPI of January 2017 compared to January 2016: petroleum products (0,51), potatoes (0,12) and electricity (0,10) while airtickets (-0,10) and clothing (-0,07) had the largest negative effect.

Finally, the products with the most negative effect on the change of the CPI of January 2017 compared to the previous month were clothing (-0,98) and footwear (-0,31). On the other hand, petroleum products (0,18) and vegetables (0,15) had the largest positive effect.